The Drought Monitoring System for Poland (ADMS) is provided by the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation - State Research Institute (IUNG-PIB) on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

ADMS supports the fulfilment of an insurance policy established by the Polish Government, according to the Act of 7 July 2005 on subsidies to the insurance of agricultural crops and farm animals (Dz. U No. 150, item 1249, 2006, No. 120, item 825).

The statutory activity of IUNG-PIB is conducted as a part of scientic-research programme entitled:

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF CROP PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AREAS IN POLAND

The accomplishment of sustainable development is the superior aim of all economic and social activities in Poland.The necessity of this is contained in documents of an international nature like conventions, agendas, or official development theories.

Agricultural production, as one of business activitieslinked with the natural environment includes plant and animal production. These two sections are combined witheach other by many dependences and feedbacks. The prime material nature of plant cultivation mainly used for foragedictates its role and meaning of crop production. The main problem is the sustainable development of crop productiondetermined by various dependences in the arrangement: agricultural production area – a plant. One can see these dependences at various levels, depending on a particular plant, canopy, field, production technology, farm, and the region.

The programme has a horizontal position and it is aimed at the fulfilment of research targets at four levels:

Plants and soils

Canopy and crop rotation

Farm and countryside

Region and country

There are four research sub-programmes connected with each other that form one programme. The area of research contains the issues of crop production on arable lands and permanent grasslands and its effect on shaping the agricultural area. Every sub-programme consists of many tasks, which de! ne the extent of current and future researches.

The programme has an open character because it can be extended and given new tasks. IUNG’s activity concentrates on agronomy and environmental development issues.

The main aim of the programme is supporting the department and the regional authority’s decision on the sustainable development of crop production, which includes shaping of the agricultural environment, providing guidelines and directives for agricultural practices.

Scientific sub-programmes realised within the framework of the IUNG-PIB statutory activity: